Ms Plibersek said the company was overstating its ability to generate jobs, while Labor was planning to generate jobs in infrastructure, tourism, construction and agriculture.

"The evidence that we've seen so far are that the jobs claims of Adani are vastly overstated," she said.

"That is really important because that is real jobs, it is not the fake job promises that Adani keeps making and then letting us down on."

She said Labor's position on Adani was not guided by how its members felt about coal.

"It's not 'the vibe' of the thing," Ms Plibersek said.

"There is a simple economic fact that the world is moving away from coal-fired power generation, it's becoming increasingly expensive, we've recognised that global warming is a problem, we want to reduce our pollution, some countries are worried about the air quality in their cities.

"To fantasise about building new coal-fired power stations with taxpayers' money as some of the Liberals and Nationals are doing, is irresponsible."

Opposition defence spokesman Richard Marles said he did not think the Adani mine would go ahead because the global market for thermal coal was in decline.

Mr Marles told Sky News this morning: "The global market for thermal coal has collapsed, and, wonderful, that's a good thing, because what that implies is the world is acting in relation to climate change.

"What it means is that the economic case for opening up the Galilee Basin isn't what it was a decade ago."

Asked about what it meant for jobs and Labor candidates who supported the project he said there were other avenues for employment.

"Well there are lots of ways in which you can generate employment but what's the important statement here is that no public money is going to be spent on it, I think it's important that we operate in way that doesn't give rise to sovereign risk," he said.

Mr Marles went as far to say that he did not believe the project would go ahead without an injection of public money, which both Labor and the Government have ruled out.

"I think we know that without public money in this space it's unlikely to go ahead. That, I think, is the end of it," he said.